The future of Alexis Sanchez at Arsenal is still in doubt with his manager Arsene Wenger admitting he is no nearer to establishing if the Chilean striker will be at the club come the end of the season.
Sanchez’s commitment to the north London side has come into question this season after his failure to reach agreement about an extension to his current contract that expires in the summer.
But Wenger, who has now equalled Manchester United legend Alex Ferguson’s Premier League record of 810 matches in charge, was full of praise for the 29-year-old after he scored two goals in Arsenal’s 3-2 victory over Crystal Palace on Thursday.
The Frenchman believes the player’s performance at Selhurst Park showed there has been no let up in the player’s effort, but with the January transfer window about to open, has no idea about the player’s next move.
“First of all nobody knows what will happen really,” he said. “It’s difficult to speculate. At the moment we are focused on the short-term, that means the next game with the players committed and ready to fight.
“It’s not a guarantee of how long you stay somewhere. As long as you are somewhere, you give your best. I felt he was very good tonight from the first minute on, focused on the game. This kind of Sanchez is a great football player, as we know. That’s the kind of performance we want from him.
“I am not fearful but that will be a subject that arises because of his contractual situation,” he added.
Sanchez scored his first in the 62nd minute and his second four minutes later, after Andros Townsend had canceled out Shkodran Mustafi’s first-half opener, but not all his teammates celebrated his goals with him.
Adding to Wenger’s woe is the ongoing speculation surrounding Jack Wilshere, who put in a man of the match performance against Palace. The midfielder is also in the final year of his contract and Wenger believes he too showed he has the commitment necessary.
“They are questioned, always, when people don’t have long contracts,” Wenger said. “The best way to show they are committed is to give that kind of performance. Jack is coming back into competitive shape. He gives something to the team at the moment, and gave a good final ball for the third goal.”
Wenger said Arsenal and Wilshere are due to open talks in January. “The situation is that we need to sit down with him. Beginning of January, it’s planned. There is no delay.
“I said we would sort out his situation in December, end of December, and so I told him we want to meet and sit down with him to talk about the future.
“He did well to calm down at half-time to make sure any injustice he might have felt was channelled into his performance.”
Alexis Sanchez's Arsenal future is still in doubt
Alexis Sanchez's Arsenal future is still in doubt
Chelsea paid for costly errors in Arsenal defeat, says Rosenior
LONDON: Liam Rosenior admitted Chelsea paid the price for costly mistakes after Arsenal took advantage of his side’s blunders to win 3-2 in the League Cup semifinal first leg on Wednesday.
Rosenior’s team face a tough task to set up a final against either Manchester City or Newcastle following their error-strewn display in their new manager’s first home match.
Chelsea were guilty of sloppy marking for Ben White’s early headed opener before goalkeeper Robert Sanchez gifted striker Viktor Gyokeres Arsenal’s second goal after half-time.
Alejandro Garnacho got one back for Chelsea but Martin Zubimendi then netted for Arsenal after more lacklustre defending from Rosenior’s men.
Substitute Garnacho’s second goal gave Chelsea a glimmer of hope heading into the second leg at the Emirates Stadium in February.
“Disappointed to concede from a corner. Disappointed with the third goal as well because we were right back in the game and we were on top at that moment,” Rosenior said.
“We switched off from a restart from a central free-kick but I can’t fault the players.
“We need to make sure we perform well individually and we don’t concede as many goals.”
Rosenior was without a host of key players, including Cole Palmer, Reece James and Liam Delap, due to injuries and illness.
‘It’s another step’
In his second game since replacing Enzo Maresca as Blues boss, the 41-year-old took heart from the way Chelsea kept fighting to find a way back into the tie.
“We’ve had illness in the squad, we’ve picked up a few knocks this week but what the squad has shown is that they are willing to run and fight for each other,” he said.
Rosenior, who oversaw a 5-1 FA Cup third-round win at Charlton in his debut last weekend, refused to condemn Sanchez for the latest in a long line of shaky performances.
“Rob’s a very good goalkeeper. He made an outstanding save at 3-1 to keep us in the tie, so for me load of things to improve but the overall attitude of the team I liked,” Rosenior said.
“Hopefully, we get a few bodies back for Brentford on Saturday.”
Arsenal are now unbeaten in 10 games in all competitions as they moved a step closer to their first silverware since the 2020 FA Cup.
The Gunners had lost their previous four semifinals across a variety of competitions, including the League Cup last year.
Mikel Arteta was impressed with Arsenal’s ability to subdue Chelsea for long periods, but he was left to rue their failure to kill off their London rivals.
“I have to praise the players for the performance against a really good opponents. It’s a really tough place to come. That’s why I really value what the team has done again,” Arteta said.
“We had two massive chances to score the fourth one and the result would have been very different. At that moment they created a chance and scored a goal. So it is a very different feeling. It’s game on.”
As well as leading the Premier League, Arsenal are also still chasing Champions League and FA Cup glory.
But after so many last-four failures in the recent past, Arteta won’t take anything for granted.
“It’s another step. It’s just half-time. We know the big fight we are going to have at the Emirates in a few weeks because they are a top side,” he said.
“What we’re doing every three days is impressive.”
